Geocaching Guidelines - Placer

In addition to following the Basic Guidelines, a person placing a cache must abide by all the guidelines below.

Placement of a Cache

To place a physical or virtual cache, you must have prior written permission from the Milwaukee County Parks Land Manager. For each cache location, complete a separate Permit Request Form,provide a map (a Google Earth or similar map), and send them as attachments to your email to parks@milwcnty.com

Sensitive Areas: Those areas the Land manager determines cannot tolerate human traffic or disturbance. This includes, but is not limited to, portions of the following parks and parkways:

Bender Park

Brown Deer Park

Doctor's Park

Falk Park

Grant Park

Greenfield Park

Holler Park

Jacobus Park

Kletzsch Park

Lake Park

McGovern Park

Menomonee River Parkway

Noyes Park

Oak Creek Parkway

Oakwood Park

Rawson Woods

Root River Parkway

Scout Lake

Whitnall Park

Recreational fields or facilities: This includes golf courses, water parks, or sports fields

Areas with slopes of greater than 5%. Caches may, however, be allowed on the area above the slope or the foot of the slope.

Place your cache within 5 feet of a designated trail or mowed turf grass area (non-sports field) within the Department of Parks, Recreation and Culture property. Any placement at Wehr Narture Center must be directly adjacent to or on a designated trail. Off-trail hiking of any kind is not allowed on the Wehr Nature Center grounds.

You must use the natural terrain and site conditions to hide the cache. The cache may not physically change the character of the site. This includes but it not limited to distubing/excavating soil, cutting vegetation, moving downed logs,etc.

Do not place your cache adjacent to birdhouses or bird nests. Federal law protects nesting birds and disturbing their nests is a federal crime.

Physical Cache Content

The following items are not permitted in a physical geocache:

Food of any kind

Pocket knives or weapons of any kind

Illegal items such as drugs

Materials restricted from minors, such as, but not limited to, tobacco and alcohol

The maximun capacity of any single physical geocache must not exceed one gallon

All cache containers must be clearly labeled in large lettering with the word "Geocache" on the outside of the container--especially old ammunition cans

Your cache must contain your permit number inside the container.

Monitoring the Cache

You are responsible for monitoring the cache regularly - four times per year recommended - and reporting any vandalism or deterioration of property. If you discover any illegal or hazardous materias in the cache, you must contact a Milwaukee County Parks employee immediately.

Moving or Removing a Cache

You do not need to fill out a permit form to remove a cache, but you must notify the Land Manager and provide him with the permit number of your cache.

A cache may remain at the permitted site for up to two years. At that time you must remove the cache and restore the site to its origninal condition to the satisfaction of the Parks Department or request an extension. If you have a permit number, you may email the Land Manager with your request. If you do not have a permit number, please re-submit an application form.

A cache may be required to be moved if the Land Manager deems that the cache area is being over-used, or that volunteer trails are developing

A cache will be removed if the Land Manager determines that there is an unacceptable hazard to humans, an unacceptable level of damage to the environment, or the cache is not in compliance with policy. The Land Manager shall make a reasonable effort to notify you of a removed cache. A removed physical cache will be stored for up to three months. If not claimed, it shall be disposed of as surplus property.